Resilient belt training troughing idler assembly



July 16, 1963 w. E. GOODMAN ETA]. 3,097,737

RESILIENT BELT TRAINING TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY Filed July 18, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V I IN TOR.

ll/i/fi'am I. 60002 72 Key A' [0 Presfz y 1963 w. E. GOODMAN ETAL 3,097,737

RESILIENT BELT TRAINING TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY Filed July 18, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

I ll/i/flkm Goodman (0y I Low/est! United States Patent 3,097,737 RESILIENT BELT TRAINING TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY William E. Goodman and Roy F. Lo Presti, Chicago, Ill.,

assignors to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Iil., a corporation of Illinois Filed July 18, 1960, Ser. No. 43,599 1 Claim. (Cl. 198-192) This invention relates generally to rope sideframe belt conveyors and more particularly to a troughing idler assembly having a plurality of rollers carried by a resilient, substantially non-rotatable shaft which can be oriented to automatically train the belt solely in response to passage of a belt over the assembly.

Accordingly, one of the primary objects of the invention is to provide a rope sidefname conveyor having a plurality of belt training troughin-g idler assemblies, each assembly including a plurality of rollers carrier by a single, nonrotatable resilient shaft.

Another object is to provide a rope sideframe conveyor troughing idler assembly havinga plurality of belt supporting rollers carried by a resilient shaft which will not bow outwardly downstream in response to passage of a belt over the assembly to thereby provide good belt training characteristics.

Still another obiect is to provide unique means for suspending an above described troughing idler assembly from the rope sideframes which provides positive placement of the assembly in a downstream training position.

Another object is to provide a pre-bowed resilient shaft having a plurality of rollers thereon and providing means for canting the pre-bowed resilient shaft into atraining position.

These and other objects of this invention will be found in the following specification and claims wherein like reference numerals identify like parts throughout.

The invention is shown somewhat diagrammatically in the drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a rope sideframe conveyor having troughing idler assemblies embodying this invention,

FIGURE 2 is a view taken substantially along line 22 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a view taken substantially along line 33 of FIGURE 2, and

FIGURE 4 is a view taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIGURE 3 showing the roller assembly rope mounting means in detail.

A portion of a rope sideframe conveyor is shown generally at 2 in FIGURE 1. The conveyor includes a series of longitudinally aligned, generally regularly spaced support standards 3 which maintain a pair of rope sideframes in generally co-planar, generally parallel relationship along the conveying course.

Each support standard 3 includes a pair of flat ground engaging base plates 4 having tubes 5 extending upwardly therefrom. The tubes are secured to the base plates by conventional means such as welding or the like. The tubes may be connected together by a cross bar to form a conventional H-frarne. Pipes '6 carrying rope seats 7 at their upper extremities are vertically adjustable in the tubes 5. The precise configuration of each of the H- frame support standards and the pipe adjusting means is conventional a detailed description is not considered necessary to an understanding of the invention.

A pair of spaced wire ropes .10 and 1-1 are received in corresponding rope seats 7 and secured thereto by conventional means.

Suspended from the wire ropes 10 and 11 at somewhat regularly spaced intervals are pre bowed troughing roller "ice assemblies indicated generally at 12 in FLIGURE l. The resilient shaft on which the individual rollers are journaled is pie-bowed and tends to retain this position or configuration. Forces may be exerted on the shaft to change its position but once such forces are withdrawn, then the resilient material returns or springs back to its original configuration. As is also seen in FIGURE 1, certain of the support standards 3 carry return rollers 13 rotatably supported on ears 14 secured by welding or the like to the tubes 5 of the support standards. A conveyor belt 15 including a carrying reach 16 and a return reach 17 is supported by the troughing roller assemblies and the return rollers, respectively.

Each of the troughing roller assemblies is identical in construction and only one will be described in pointing out the unique features of this invention. As best seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, each troughing roller assembly is connected to the rope sideframes by a pair of rope engaging roller assembly mountings 20.

Each mounting 20 includes a rope engaging portion formed by a longitudinally extending rope seat 21 of substantial length and a downwardly and outwardly extending flange 22. An internally threaded aperture 23 is formed in the outwardly extending lip 24 of the flange. A clamp 25 having an aperture in its bottomflange 26 is forced into engagement with a corresponding rope by a screw 27.

A pair of generally vertical webs 32, 33 are secured, as by welding, to the downwardly extending flanges 22. A pair of sleeves 34, 35 are secured to the upper edge of the webs by any suitable means. In this instance, the sleeves have been formed as separate elements and thus secured to the webs, but it would also be possible to form the sleeves and webs integrally.

As is best seen in FIGURE 3, the webs and sleeves are secured to the rope seats 21 at angles canted from the perpendicular with respect to the wire ropes :10 and 11. The reason for this construction will be hereinafter explained.

A pair of tubular liners 3 6, only one of which is shown in the drawings, are received within and project outwardly from the sleeves. Each liner terminates in a flared end cap, the caps being indicated at 37 and '38.

A resilient shaft 39 is journaled at its ends in the sleeve and liner assembly. The ends of the shaft extend outwardly of the sleeves and are threaded as at 40, 41 to receive washers 42, 43 and anchoring nuts 44, 45.

The ends of the shaft are canted from a perpendicular to the rope sideframes. The amount of cant is governed by the angle at which the webs are secured to the rope clamps.

Mounted for rotation on the shaft 39 at regularly spaced intervals therealong are identical rollers 46- of resilient material such as rubber or the like. Each of the rollers is formed about a center bearing hub 47. Lateral movement of the roller along the hub is prevented by a circular key 48' formed integrally with the hub and extending into the roller.

Nylon spacers 49 maintain the center hubs, and consequently the rollers, in spaced relationship along the shaft 39. Rubber sleeves 50 having beaded portions 51 surround the spacers. The sleeves act as dust and dirt seals to keep dust and abrasive material away from the rotating bearing surfaces between the hubs and shaft.

At each end of the outermost rollers 46, the caps 37 and 38 overlie a corresponding end of a bearing to center the series of rollers and spacers on the shaft and provide outer dust and dirt seals.

The use, operation and function of this invention are as follows:

A rope sideframe conveyor may be set up in many locations under widely varying conditions to provide a highly flexible unit for carrying bulk materials such as coal or the like. This novel combination of rope sideframes supporting a series of small rollers carried by preboWed-resilient shafts provides a conveyor which troughs as a function of the weight carried and also provides uniform belt contact by the rollers, decreasing belt wear and equalizing load stresses.

In addition, as is diagrammatically shown in FIGURE 3, the webs 32 and 33 and their associated sleeves 34 and 35 are initially secured to the flanged rope seats 21 at a rearwardly canted angle to the direction of conveyor belt travel (shown by the arrow A in FIGURE 3). Since the rope seats 21 are of a considerable length, any tendency of the ropes 10, and consequently the sleeves 34 and 35, to twist responsive to forces exerted on the ropes from the assembly is considerably lessened. The outer rollers 46 exert a force on the belt tending to direct it toward the center of the roller assembly. The directions in which the belt training forces are exerted are indicated by the arrows B in FIGURE 3.

As the load on the carrying reach 16 of the conveyor belt increases, the resilient shaft bends to allow the rollers to assume the position shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2. This permits a pendulum effect to occur in the flexible roller- :ass embly and the canted effect is lessened to a certain degree with a consequent lessening of the training effect of the outer rollers 46. This, however, is not a problem since a heavily loaded belt has lesser detraining tendencies.

At all times the individual bearings 47 and rollers 46 rotate on the dead shaft along with the spacers 49 which maintain proper spacing therebetween. The rubber sleeves 50 also rotate in unison with the bearing hubs and spacers.

The individual roller assemblies can be easily removed from their mountings in the sleeves 34 and 35 for replacement by a whole new shaft and roller unit.

The foregoing description is intended to be illustrative only and not definitive, and accordingly, the invention should be limited only by the scope of the appended claim.

We claim:

A belt training troughing idler assembly especially adapted for downhill conveying runs, said troughing idler assembly including, in combination,

a uniform diameter, solid shaft,

said shaft extending from end to end of the idler assembly,

a plurality of rollers carried by the shaft, said rollers being rotatable with respect to the shaft,

structure for connecting the shaft, by its end portions, to the wire rope side frames of a Wire rope conveyor,

said structure being effective to position the end portions of the shaft downstream with respect to the mid-portion of the shaft in an unloaded condition,

the mid-portion of said shaft, in a belt-supporting, un-

loaded condition, thereby lying,

firstly, in an upstream, belt training position, with respect to a line substantially perpendicular to the direction of belt travel which passes through the points of connection of the end portions of the shaft to the wire ropes, and,

secondly, a substantial distance below said line, said downward displacement being greater than that due to the weight of the rollers and belt alone,

the downward displacement being sufiicient in an unloaded condition, to provide contact over the entire width of a belt which may be supported by the rollers whereby good belt-roller contact is provided throughout the entire width of the conveyor belt,

said shaft being resilient, and pre-bowed, over at least its belt contacting length to thereby enable the end portions of the shaft to move toward and away from one another in a direction transverse to the conveyin run in response to variations in load,

said connecting means including a pair of tubular liners, one at each end portion of the shaft, the shaft being received in the liners,

a pair of rope clamp assemblies, one at each end of the troughing idler assembly,

each rope clamp assembly including a rope clamp, a web extending therefrom, 'and a sleeve carried by the web,

the tubular liner being received in the sleeve, and

a threaded fastener received on the end of the shaft which prevents longitudinal movement of the shaft with respect to the linear and sleeve,

said connecting means lying transversely outwardly from the end rollers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,833,179 Robins Nov. 24, 1931 2,880,851 Salmons Apr. 7, 1959 2,942,721 Kidd et a1. June 28, 1960 2,948,384 Pate Aug. 9, 1960 

